Repent or Else

I'm not entirely sure that the two "repent or else" statements by Jesus in Luke 13 weren't political rather than religious statements. Here's the first. Notice how the topic opens with political action.

Luke 13:[1 ]Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. [2 ]Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? [3 ]I tell you, no, but unless you change your mindset, you will all perish in the same way.

Doesn't that sound like a warning against having a politically rebellious attitude, especially since they would perish "in the same way" (that is, by the hands of the Romans)?

And here's the second. Think of the towers around the temple compound that originally served as a Hebrew last-line-of-defense fortress/refuge, and later as garrisons for Roman soldiers policing the compound. As a Hebrew fortress, the Romans could have torn it down to get to Jewish rebels; as a Roman garrison, the troops housed in the tower could have "fallen" on their enemies. Notice that in either case the victims were "offenders", not "sinners" as in the first case.

[4 ]Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem? [5 ]I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”

Is Jesus telling his listeners to repent in the same way John told his listeners to repent, a moral, spiritual, religious repentance, or is Jesus saying, "If you don't want Rome to come destroy you, you better change your thinking"? Or maybe he's tying Roman destruction to the peoples' moral mindset, the way so much of their scripture repeatedly warned of God using foreign nations to "day of the Lord" rebellious Israel?

At any rate, it just seems maybe we're using this passage out of context to support our "Repent" step.